Crimson Regret
by Silwen Aurdomiel
Summary: Months had passed, yet the pain still lingered… Death clouded her thoughts and beckoned. Hermione's death invitation is accepted by a vampire, specifically, a vampire named Draco Malfoy. Oneshot, songficish R&R!


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, places, plots, etc of "Harry Potter". If I did I probably wouldn't be here, writing this right now… And Evanescence owns "Tourniquet"…

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**Crimson Regret**

_I tried to kill the pain  
But only brought more  
So much more  
I lay dying  
And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming  
Am I too lost to be saved?  
Am I too lost?_

Hermione wandered through the shadows of the Forbidden Forest, lost in the memories of the nightmarish dreams that haunted her troubled sleep. The night wind swirled about her, tearing at her face, her hair, weaving in and out of her thoughts. A thin, crescent moon drifted through the light clouds, like a silver knife hanging suspended above her.

_A green light flashed before her. A mad laugh of insanity surged down her spine in icy foreboding. _

Months had passed, yet the pain still lingered… Death clouded her thoughts and beckoned.

_A figure fell lifelessly before her. The green eyes stared up at her blankly through the blood that smeared the rest of his face. The prophecy was fulfilled…_

A twig snapped nearby. She didn't seem to hear it.

A figure robed in full black slipped out from the shadows behind Hermione. He glided behind her, his steps a whisper of the night. She was luring to him…her sorrow…her heartbreak…her untouched purity… His eyes traced the outline of her white neck as tangles of brown hair swept over it.

Hermione felt a cold hand upon her neck, interrupting her drifting thoughts. It spun her around effortlessly.

She stared at the hooded figure.

He pulled off his hood.

She found herself wandering in the depths of the cold gray eyes that stared down at her. Hadn't his eyes always been blue?

"Draco…?" she murmured, the name tasting like sweet death upon her lips. Her feet seemed frozen upon the ground, her arms limp at her sides. She could not run, even if she wanted to. She didn't want to.

Draco smiled, white vampire fangs glistening in the waning moonlight. Yet she felt no fear at what he was. His silvery hair shone under the setting moon, his white skin almost translucent. His lips though, were full and blood red. He was the appearance of the Death. Blissful death.

Smiling slightly, he brushed away her hair, exposing her bare neck, his fingers gently flowing along her skin. He lowered his lips to her skin, letting his teeth sink into the pure skin and flesh, letting her blood flow past his lips.

Hermione gasped slightly as her strength left her. She fell into him; he caught her in his arms and softly laid her down upon the dewy lawn, tenderly, as a lover might. Death swirled before her eyes, and suddenly she was afraid of her choice and cried out weakly.

Draco lifted his lips from her neck, licking the blood from his lips. "There is nothing to fear," he breathed into her ear. "I will give you a choice, my love."

"What choice?" Hermione rasped as he lifted his head to look into her eyes.

"You can join _dear_ Potter in the realm of the Dead, as you have been so wishing for, or…" he trailed off, his fingers playing with her hair.

"Or?"

"Or you can join me," he smiled, his teeth glistening once more, stained slightly red from her blood. "I can give you power and immortality as you've never dreamed of. The world will love us and hate us. They will honor us and fear us. We will walk in dreams together. You will be a queen – _my_ queen. I can give you the world."

"The world?" she asked slightly dazedly, looking up at him through dim eyes.

"The world," he whispered, drawing his face close to hers.

She looked up into his silver eyes. They seemed to beckon to her, the moonlight swirling in their depths, mingling with his thoughts and powers. _Powers_…

"I should like to be your queen…" she murmured.

"And so you shall be." His lips met hers as he kissed her. Instinctively, she bit down on his lower lip. His blood flowed across their entwined lips, into her mouth, pouring back what he had taken from her, but mingled with something of himself. She licked her lips as they broke apart.

She felt energy and blood return to her body. But not life; she felt no life. The blood within her veins felt cold as it flowed through her body.

"My queen," Draco whispered as he gently lifted her up to stand.

She looked around her. The night was dying, the morning slowly rising. The mist of early dawn swirled about the ground. The dew played upon the grass blades, every drop shimmering under her new-found gaze. Birds skidded low over the lake. The world seemed changed, more beautiful than before. Yet with some sudden knowledge, she realized with a pang, this would be the last time she saw the dawn.

"So enjoy it while you may," Draco said quietly, reading her thoughts as he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "You are a vampire now… a creature of the night… you are Death."

Hermione looked at him at the last words.

"Do not be shocked at those words, love," Draco murmured against her ear, a slight smile playing about his lips. "You are power and immortality…and Death. Painful Death, Blissful Death, Sweet Death, Peaceful Death, Tormented Death…'tis your choice, but you cannot deny what you are." And with that, he glided away, leaving Hermione to her thoughts, her confusion, and her regret, basking in the bloody crimson of dawn…

_I tried to kill the pain  
But only brought more  
So much more  
I lay dying  
And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming  
Am I too lost to be saved?  
Am I too lost?_

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